Busy Airports: People Head Home For Holidays Despite Warnings
Staying put is a top priority, the CDC says. After that, it advises getting a COVID-19 test a few days before travel, and another a few days after travel, while reducing nonessential activities.
NPR:
Millions Of People Flying Despite Public Health Pleas To Stay Put
More than 2 million people have passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports over the last two days, according to statistics provided by the Transportation Security Administration. This is despite official guidance to stay home for the holidays as the coronavirus pandemic rages and the nation's death toll continues to rise. On both Friday and Saturday, about 1.07 million travelers passed through TSA checkpoints, the agency reported. That's down nearly 60% from last year, but still much higher than the typical checkpoint statistics since the pandemic began. (Schwartz, 12/20)
The Hill:
Health Officials, Social Media Scramble To Fight Vaccine Misinformation
Public health authorities and social media companies are scrambling to battle coronavirus misinformation as they try to ensure that enough Americans get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Health experts say at least 70 percent of the country needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity and completely crush the outbreak that has killed more than 300,000 Americans. (Weixel and Mills Rodrigo, 12/19)
The Hill:
Federal Agency Says Employers Can Require Workers To Get COVID-19 Vaccine
A key federal agency said this week that employers can legally require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and prevent them from entering their workplaces if they refuse. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in guidance issued Wednesday said that requiring a test would not violate the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The law bars employers from requiring medical exams such as blood tests that seek information on an employee’s physical or mental condition, but the EEOC said a COVID-19 vaccine does not fall under that category. (Axelrod, 12/19)
In other public health news —
CNN:
Take Blood Pressure In Both Arms, Study Says
The next time you get your blood pressure taken at the doctor, you might consider asking the nurse to take it in both arms. A significant difference in the systolic, or top blood pressure reading between the two arms could be a warning sign of a future heart attack or stroke, according to a new meta-analysis of 24 global studies published Monday in the journal Hypertension. (LaMotte, 12/21)
Politico:
Low-Income Children Wait Months For USDA Food Aid To Replace School Meals
Millions of low-income schoolchildren have gone almost an entire semester without receiving federal payments to help their families buy groceries months after Congress authorized the aid — even as child hunger reaches record highs in the U.S. Congress first established the payments in March to replace the free or subsidized meals that students are missing while schools are closed or virtual during the pandemic. But lawmakers waited until the program was set to expire Oct. 1 to extend the aid for the current school year. The USDA then took several weeks to write guidelines for states to hand out the money. (Bottemiller Evich, 12/20)
